During spring 1970 and January 1971, over 1,500 questionnaires were distributed in eight California public schools to delineate the cognitive and affective orientations of Mexican American and Anglo children to the three major components of the American political system: the political community, the regime, and the political authorities. The schools were located in two geographic areas--the Central Valley of California and east Los Angeles County--which were considered politically significant to recent Mexican American political activities. The responses of 683 Chicano and 544 Anglo children were tabulated. Since a quasi-longitudinal research design was used, students in grades 3, 5, 7, and 9 were given the same questionnaire. The use of idiomatic Spanish-language questionnaires administered by local Spanish speaking college students experienced in working with school-age Mexican American children minimized cultural differences. Among the findings (all of which were influenced by social class) were: (1) although both cognition of and affection for the American political community by Chicano children were below those of Anglo children, no significant differences existed; (2) although Chicano children were socialized to support system norms at a very early age, political distrust increased with maturity; and (3) idealization of political authorities initially was quite high, but compared to Anglo feelings a tremendous change occurred as Mexican American youth matured. (NQ)